DEATH AND BURIAL
Three causes of death—By act of God—By another’s witchcraft—By one’s own
witchcraft—An explosion—Decorating the corpse—fee to view the
body—Smoking the body—Making coffins—Three kinds of graves—Killing
slaves—Burying women alive—Signs of mourning—The nether
world—Suicides—Funeral dance for a man—Dance for a woman.
There are three causes of death well recognized among the Boloki: To die
by an act of God; to die by another’s witchcraft; and to die by one’s
own witchcraft. On the Lower Congo the first and second causes of death
are acknowledged, but I never heard there of a person dying by his, or
her, own witchcraft.
In cases of accidental death, as caused by the swamping of a canoe in a
storm, they say that God has caused the death. There is a certain amount
of fatalism in this statement; but other accidents in which they observe
what they consider exceptional circumstances, as the upsetting of a
canoe by a hippopotamus or by a crocodile, they place to the account of
witchcraft. Thus a canoe swamped in a storm is “an act of God,” but a
canoe upset by a crocodile is “an act of witchcraft,” as no crocodile
will upset a canoe unless it is told to do so by a witch, or unless a
witch has gone into the creature and compels it to commit the outrage;
therefore it is necessary to discover the witch and punish the person
who harbours such an evil spirit. The word for sorrow is _nkele_, which
really means anger, indignation, and the idea is that they are “angry”
that their relative has been done to death by the witch. I tried very
hard, but I found no other word for grief, sorrow, etc., at the death of
anyone than this word _nkele_ or anger—a very suggestive sidelight on
the native view of death.
On the death of a sick man the body is opened, and the arteries
connected with the liver are examined by a witch-doctor, and if they are
full, or only one is empty, then the deceased was bewitched to death,
i.e. he died by witchcraft (_awi moyengwa_); and consequently someone is
accused, and the ordeal is administered to one person after another
until the guilty party is discovered, i.e. until someone succumbs to the
ordeal, and falls intoxicated by it to the ground.
There is another view of death held by the Boloki folk, and expressed in
the phrase _awi na likundu_, which means that the person died by his own
witchcraft, or he (or she) tried to kill someone else by witchcraft, and
the other person’s protective charms, etc., were too strong, and it has
resulted in the bewitcher’s own death. The word _likundu_ literally
means smartness, craftiness, skill, occult power, being too clever.
The witch-doctor decides the matter, for he holds a kind of post-mortem
on the corpse, and if the arteries near the liver are empty, then the
man died as a result of his own witchcraft. If one artery only is empty,
that counts for nothing and is disregarded, but if four or five are
empty the witch-doctor says: “That,” pointing to one, “is the secret
power by which he so skilfully made canoes, or worked at his smithing”
(according as the man was a canoe maker or blacksmith); “that one is the
power by which he was successful in fishing” (or hunting, and so on);
“and that other one is the power by which he bewitched people, hence
someone with stronger occult power has overcome and killed him, or he
has died by his own witchcraft.”
If only one artery is empty, that is allowable, as a man must have skill
to do ordinary things like other folk, but if several are empty, then he
had more than his share of cleverness, or occult power, and no one
pities him in his death.
The following is an illustration of the wide-reaching effects of
witchcraft among the natives of Africa: Some years ago the steamer
_Matadi_ was lying off the English Trading House at Boma, and one night
the whole town was aroused by a terrific explosion. It was found on
investigation that the gunpowder on board the s.s. _Matadi_ had
exploded, and two or three white people and forty “Kroo boys” (men
engaged on the Kroo coast to work the cargo) were killed. During the
inquiry that followed it came out that the “Kroo boys,” while searching
the hold with a naked light, had accidentally set fire to the powder.
Many months afterwards we heard incidentally from other “Kroo boys” that
a big witch palaver had been held in the Kroo country and over fifty
people had been done to death for bewitching the “Kroo boys” to death on
the s.s. _Matadi_ by causing the explosion of the gunpowder by their
witchcraft. The Kroo coast is many hundreds of miles from the Congo, and
the probability is that not one of those who died by the ordeal in the
Kroo country had ever been in Congoland.
Relatives attend the sick and nurse them faithfully; and it is a sign of
true friendship to visit a sick acquaintance, or to send regularly and
inquire after his health. The women are so fond of attending the sick,
i.e. sitting in the house, suggesting charms, remedies, etc., and giving
advice, that they often neglect their farm work and various duties.
When a man of any importance dies, those who are expert in the art of
decorating corpses attend and decorate the body with coloured pigments,
beads, cowry shells, and fine cloth; and the artists charge two brass
rods per person to view the body. The family supply the cloths,
pigments—arnotta dye, chalk, red camwood powder, blue and yellow earths,
beads, shells, bottles, and looking-glasses. The figure is often fixed
in a sitting position with a bottle in one hand, as though drinking, and
a looking-glass in the other, as though he were admiring his
decorations. They aim at posing the figure in as natural a position as
possible, but the effect is ghastly on a civilized mind.
The artists give their time and skill to the family for a small fee, and
take as their perquisites the brass rods paid to view the picturesque
(?) corpse. The side of the house is removed
[Illustration:
A METHOD OF BEHEADING ON THE UPPER CONGO
This scene was arranged for the photo. In the real thing a sapling is
pulled over and the rope tied, so that when the sapling is released
it springs up and draws the neck of the victim taut.
]
to give more light on the body, and the wall removed forms, with several
mats, the screen enclosing the decorated corpse. People come from miles
around to view the sight, and the more original the pose the richer the
harvest of brass rods gathered by the lucky artists. The pigments and
barter goods on a decorated body cost approximately 1000 brass rods, or
about £3, a very large sum for these people, but from their point of
view it is worth the expenditure, for by giving the deceased such a fine
send-off to the nether regions they give no excuse to his spirit to
trouble them later with diseases and misfortune.
As a rule the body is buried within three days after death, and by that
time it is very necessary. When, however, for various reasons—as lack of
means to provide a good funeral—it is not convenient to bury the
deceased so soon, they take out the entrails and bury them, place the
corpse on a frame, light a fire under it, and thoroughly smoke-dry it;
and in this way they are able to keep it for a more convenient time—this
may be a matter of weeks, and even months. The dried body is tied in
mats, put in a roughly-made hut, and a fire is occasionally made under
it. Another mode is as follows: The body is tied in mats and buried in
an ordinary but shallow grave, a big fire is made on the top of the
grave to dry up the moisture in the body, and to preserve it. At a more
suitable time a coffin is made and the corpse buried properly; this is
called _likaku_.
Coffins are often made out of old canoes by men who go about the
district for that purpose. Considering the material and tools they are
well made, the various pieces fitting closely together.
These native “undertakers,” on arriving at the place where their
services are required, put up a fence of mats so as to make a private
workshop. They charge so much for the job and are kept in food and
drink, and any dogs, goats, etc., that push open the mats and enter the
workshop are liable to confiscation if their inquisitiveness causes them
to persist in entering after they have been driven away twice.
The coffins are sometimes lined and covered with cheap cloth, but more
often they are stained with arnotta dye and ornamented with yellow and
blue pigments. All the materials are supplied by the family.
Clumsily-made native nails, or wooden pins, are used, unless they can
procure nails from the nearest white man. Sometimes the parts are laced
together. Poorer folk are rubbed with oil, and red camwood powder, bound
round with cloth, and tied up in a mat; and those who are very poor are
simply tied in their sleeping-mats; a corpse is rarely thrown into the
river or bush.
When the time for burial arrives the coffin is carried round the town on
exhibition, then the corpse is placed in it, and men convey it to the
place of interment, followed by relatives, male and female—not
wives—friends and townsfolk generally; the wives remain behind to
continue the mourning. A person often dies away from his house, and
sometimes away from his town. The body is brought home and buried—if a
free man or woman—in his or her house; but a slave is buried on the edge
of the bush, or in any convenient place.
[Illustration:
GRAVE FOR A WEALTHY MAN
]
The graves are of three kinds: (1) When the grave is dug deep enough a
cutting is made at the side in which to lay the corpse so that the earth
does not press on the body, thus:
(2) A notch is cut in the earth along the two sides about two feet from
the bottom of the grave, and planks or sticks are laid across after the
body is put in position, and the earth is thrown on the sticks. (A and B
are notches or ledges to take planks or sticks.) By this means also the
earth is kept from contact with the coffin.
(3) An ordinary straight-sided hole, and the earth put on the body. 1
and 2 are for important men—those whose families can afford to pay for a
coffin, and they do not want it spoiled at once by having the
clay—generally very wet—thrown on it; and No. 3 is for the common
people.
[Illustration:
GRAVE FOR A WEALTHY MAN
]
There is no special time for burying, and no particular position for the
grave and corpse. I have known them to bury their dead at different
times, in the morning, afternoon, and evening. Mostly bodies are buried
in one or other of the houses (or very near to them) belonging to the
deceased, consequently the position of the grave depends on whether the
house runs east and west, or north and south, or whether the row of
houses owned by the deceased is parallel or at right angles to the
river.
In the old days it was the custom to kill two slaves and put one under
the head as a pillow and one under the feet of the corpse. In every
family of importance there was a slave wife who went by the name of
_mwila ndako_, and it indicated that she was to be buried alive with her
dead husband. If, however, this wife had a child before her husband
died, then another woman took her place—a young woman was generally
selected for this doubtful honour. The number of wives buried in the
grave was in proportion to the man’s wealth and importance, but he
always made certain of one—the _mwila ndako_. We were able eventually to
persuade them to abandon this custom, but it was not until we had gained
their confidence and good-will by long residence among them.
A man while mourning for a relative or a wife wears rags, or an old
string fish-net, and allows his body to go unrubbed with oil and camwood
powder. Utter disregard of one’s personal appearance is a sign of great
grief for the departed. At times men wear women’s dresses instead of
their own in token of their sorrow, and they shave off only half the
hair of the head, or tie the hair up in little bunches or knots and
shave the hair off the spaces between the knots; and some rub their
bodies with clay. The modes are many and various, according to the
nearness or remoteness of the relationship. In some cases they exhibit
real sorrow, but in the majority of cases there is more noise and show
than true grief.
Rarely does a man give way to crying; and if his dearest friend dies
(not his relative) he exhibits no sign of mourning, not because he does
not feel sorry, but because he does not desire to attract attention to
himself as a person who mourns for one who is not his relative. It would
be most unusual, and besides, if he has signs of mourning about him, the
folk will be constantly stopping him and inquiring of him which of his
family is dead.
[Illustration:
_Photo by: Rev. R. H. Kirkland_
HEAD-MAN AND HIS WIFE
This man was, to some extent, responsible for the transport of State
goods and messages between Nouvelles Anvers on the Congo and
Bosisera on the Lake. The woman has the spiral rings on her legs,
and her feet are greatly swollen by reason of the heavy rings.
]
During the first few hours after a woman’s death nearly all her female
relatives and neighbours cry as though their hearts are broken; but the
next day they commence dancing, and continue to do so at short intervals
for five or six days. The husband hires a professional dancer to act as
master of the ceremonies.
Upon the death of a man his widows cry and drink water mixed with clay,
either dress themselves in a few leaves or strip themselves absolutely
nude and rub dirt on the body (sometimes only half the body is covered
with clay and the other half left its natural colour, giving a very
grotesque appearance to the mourner), then taking something belonging to
their late husband they parade the town in pretended search for him.
After the funeral they sit in their houses, or inside a rough grass
screen, for five or six days, until the sister of the deceased man gives
them permission to leave their houses, and then for about six weeks or
two months they walk only in the “bush,” and if they hear anyone coming
they hide, and during this time they may not walk about the town. Then
for another three months they wear long, untidy-looking grass cloths. If
their late husband was a great hunter, then the widows will not eat meat
during the period of mourning; but should they during this period “live
well,” the deceased man’s sister or daughter will upbraid them for not
mourning properly, and the folk in the town will regard them as callous,
hard-hearted women, and the public opinion of the district will condemn
them. The new widows are not supposed to go to the farms or engage in
any of their former occupations, and as their visits to the farms are
very irregular their supply of food is meagre, so they are said “to
fast” during the period of mourning. At the end of the mourning and
fasting they wash, don their better dresses, and are distributed among
the heirs of their deceased husband, i.e. among his sons.
At the funeral of a man there is more or less firing of guns, according
to the importance of the deceased. This they say is to ensure for him a
good entrance into the nether world, a place situated somewhere below.
The departed spirits in the nether world, hearing the firing, gather
about the entrance to welcome the new arrival. Some say that the spirit
of the deceased “hovers near the entrance” (others say “near to the
body,”) while they decorate the body, dig the grave, kill the slaves,
prepare the wife who is to accompany him; then comes the firing, the
entrance to the nether world, and the welcome. If the deceased was a
great fighter the family arranges a sham fight in his honour, and these
sham fights occasionally take place for two or three years.
The names of the dead are freely mentioned for a few weeks after death,
and such names are even passed on to children if there is any likeness
of the child to the deceased; and some natives have a misty idea of the
possibility of the rebirth of the deceased in the child who bears the
likeness.
If a slave commits suicide his master will throw his body into the
river; but a free man who commits suicide is buried in a shallow grave
with little or no ceremony, because he has died by his own hand.
Suicide, however, is extremely rare among the Boloki. Women are buried
with the same ceremony as a man, and in accordance with their position
in the town.
There are two dances that should be mentioned in connection with their
funeral rites: The first is named _ebala_. Directly a man of any
position dies the family orders sugar-cane wine, which takes a few days
to prepare in any large quantity. As soon as the wine is ready a large
hardwood drum is beaten, and the men and women dance for three days and
nights, or as long as the wine lasts. Lines are formed and a man leaves
the line and advances, and a woman leaves the line opposite and advances
to within a yard of the man, there they wriggle, shuffle their feet,
shake their bodies for a few moments, and return to their places, and
another couple advance, and thus all down the line over and over again.
It is a regular wake, accompanied by much drunkenness and immorality—the
former openly, the latter under cover.
The second dance is _muntembe_, from _ntembe_ = stems of cassava plants.
When a woman dies who is held in much honour by the other women in the
town as a good farmer, one who has taught them much and frequently about
farming, and under whose leadership they have been successful in their
operations, the other women will, a few days after such a one’s death,
form a procession, decorate themselves with leaves, twigs, and creepers,
and dance and chant her praises through the town. At the close of the
dance they go in a body to the farm of the deceased woman and hoe and
plant a large patch of cassava for the use of her family. The family
supplies the dancers with sugar-cane wine for this festivity.
In 1890 I saw in Bonjoko—a town just below Monsembe—the entrance, 6 feet
by 8 feet, to a house paved with skulls; and it was customary not only
to use skulls in this way, but also to put the skulls of enemies at the
base of palm trees and to use them as foot-stools. The desire was, by
these indignities, to insult the fallen enemy and to maintain some hold
on the spirits of those slain in war that they might attend their
conqueror in the spirit-land.
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